Shlomo Argov

Shlomo Argov (December 14, 1929 – February 23, 2003) was a prominent Israeli diplomat. He was the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom whose attempted assassination led to the 1982 Lebanon War.

Attempted Assassination

On June 3, 1982, three men, Hussein Ghassan Said, Marwan al-Banna, and Nawaf al-Rosan[1] approached Argov as he got into his car after a banquet at the Dorchester Hotel, in Park Lane, London. Said shot Argov in the head. Though not killed, he remained in a coma for three months. The events left him permanently paralysed and in need of constant medical assistance, which he received at the Hadassah Hospital, in Jerusalem.

The attempted assassins were members of Abu Nidal's organization. Al-Banna was Abu Nidal's cousin, Said a Jordanian and the third of Argov's would-be assassins, Al-Rosan, was a Baghdad intelligence colonel. The gunman, Said, was shot by the bodyguard and also sustained serious head injuries and, like Argov, survived.[2]. The two uninjured assassins fled the scene but were arrested shortly afterwards in a London flat. It appeared that they were next planning to kill Nabil Ramlawi, the PLO representative in London[3].

The attackers were convicted and the sentences ranged between 30 and 35 years. Subsequently two became mentally ill and were transferred to high secure hospitals in the UK[4]. There was speculation in Israel that the British security services were aware of the plot[5]; Lord Alton of Liverpool failed to draw the government into making comment when he raised the issue in the House of Lords. [6] The attempt on Argov's life was the catalyst for the 1982 Lebanon War, which started on June 6, and led to the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization from Lebanon.

In 2003, at the age of 73, Argov succumbed to the wounds inflicted by the would-be assassins.

External links

• Lebanon: A chronology of key events
• Israeli government's page on Argov
• Shlomo Argov: Israeli diplomat whose shooting triggered the invasion of Lebanon